I’ve got some good prices on the top of the line Mavic Cosmic Carbone Ultimate and the Campagnolo Bora Ultra Two wheels. They are similar in their complete carbon fiber construction and are both made for the flats.

These wheels wouldn’t be great in hilly rides, but they are significantly cheaper than the Lightweight Obermayer III and are great wheels to have.

By my reckoning, these two wheelsets are about 10-20% cheaper here in Taiwan. They are new and come with all of the trimmings of such an exquisite wheelset.

Mavic Cosmic Carbone Ultimate

The Mavic Cosmic Carbone Ultimate weigh 1188g. The rims are 40mm in depth, this is quite unique, as most other wheelset companies use a shallower depth or greater for true aero wheels. Mavic uses an alimunum rear hub. This means that the rear wheel can be made true. There are spoke nibbles that are attached to the hub flange which can be adjusted using a standard spoke wrench. This is similar to how Lightweight wheels are made. The rim is also totally sealed from the elements.

Unlike most other wheels, they have seen quite a bit of action in cylcocross, so you can bet that these wheels are made strong. These wheels are stiff and light, thanks to profiled spokes, bladed front hub flanges, and an aero rim. According to Mavic, the Ultimates are 59% more aero than the Ksyrium SLs. There are some accounts that the Ultimates are actually stiffer than the Lightweight Standard wheels, even though the Standards have a 54mm deepth.

There are 16 spokes in the front and 20 in the back. As with the rear hub, the front and rear axles are made out of aluminum. The rear wheel has the Mavic QRM+ bearing system. Each wheel comes with a BR601 titanium-shaft quick release and a valve extender. The front wheel includes a spoke magnet for bike computers. They also come with a complete set of Swiss Stop Yello King Carbon pads and a bearing adjustment tool. They are compatible with Campagnolo and Shimano cassettes and only come in 700c tubulars.

Campagnolo Bora Ultra Two

Unnaturally sexy, these wheels have a great classic look that goes well with light and dark-colored frames. These rims are 50mm deep and have carbon/aluminum hubs. The Boras are shallower than Campagnolo’s Hyperons. The hubs have variable thickness to save weight and allow the enclosure of Super Record internals along with a light freewheel and titanium pawl carrier.

These wheels use Campy’s Ceramic Ultimate Level Technology (CULT) ball bearings, same as the Hyperons. These bearings don’t use a special grease. Instead, they use oil, which minimizes drag and makes maintenance easier. The bearings are 200 times more resistant to corrosion and 1000 times rounder than similar steel bearings.

The rear hub has an enlarged aluminum right flange to increase the wheel’s torsional stiffness. It sports 18 spokes in the front and 21 in the rear. They also come with special brake pads, skewers, wheelbags and a lockring. They weigh 1319g and are only available in tubulars.

Send me an email at djrange at gmail dot come to find out more and to order yours direct from Taiwan. Visit Asterisk*Cycles.

Hi Range: Thanks for the Info; I’m interested in the Bora set, to pair to my Record 10V. I live in Ontario, next-door province to Olivier who wrote to you from Quebec, and I have the same questions. What is the cost of the Campy Bora Ultra Two wheelset? What is the shipping cost to Ontario, Canada? Is it possible to skip the duties and taxes? Thanks; Austin.

Hi, no I haven’t heard about them. Any prices that you see on websites that are way too low to be true for brand names, I’d stay away from those. As I said previously, you can expect a saving of 5% to 30%, no more.